The Magi of Death
by John the Strider
Summary: "Master of Death" was a bad translation. Harry is now the First Magi in the House of Death, tasked with putting down would be-immortals and waging war on the other Houses. His current jobs takes him to a young world to destroy an immortal called Madara. However, with a Beast from the house of Destruction present, it appears that Death isn't the only House with an interest here...
1. Prologue: Arrival

_Once more with Feeling:__ I own Didly. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Squat._

_Firstly: I'm going back and reworking this story a little, keeping the major salient points and adding details to tighten up the story. straightening ot the logic a little._

_Secondly: I've had many reviews on how powerful harry should be after three centuries. The single biggest problem with this, which I think you will recognize if you all think about it, is just how BROKEN the harry potter magic system is. As much as I love JKR's works (I grew up with her stories), there is no rationing system in the harry potter universe, nor is there a way to compare magic power. According to canon, you could fire off Avadra kavadras like it's free for hours. So i'm pegging Harry to the nine tails as an equal, when BOTH are allowed to kick free. Since one stuck in a eight year old, and the other is a three hundred year old mage, harry is still more powerful. _

_Thirdly: Power is situational. no matter how strong you are, you can still be surprised. _

* * *

**Prologue**

It was a beautiful autumn day. The sky was a clear crystal blue that stretched towards the horizon where it met the cerulean sea.

Harry Potter stood on the edges of the cliff and watched the distant horizon as he listened to the roar of waves crashing upon the rocks far below. He felt the cool ocean breeze ruffle his hair and closed his eyes, temporarily forgetting sorrows of the past and the pressures of the future, simply enjoying the tranquillity of _now_. It had been too many years since he had an opportunity to relax like this.

Harry drew a deep breath and savoured the cool air, tasting the slight tang of salt in the air. This was a young world, barely a hundred thousand years old. Unlike older worlds such as the one he had been born on, the magic of creation itself still lingered in this world. It was something that Harry could almost taste in the air, an imperceptible sweetness that lingered after every breath. After so many centuries travelling to and through ancient worlds groaning under the weight of their history, being on this one was quite invigorating.

The best part of it was that worlds this young were all protected under the Common House treaties. The harshly enforced treaties forbid all House Sworn from using their powers upon this world unless attacked by another House sworn first. While this essentially stripped from Harry much of what he was used to having at his disposal, it equally protected him from the agents of the other Houses if they came to this world.

"Sir Mage," The voice of his companion was a low rumble that echoed with the lonely rattle of bones in an empty crypt, "While I understand your desire to rest as you have just arrived in this world, I must return to my duties shortly. Perhaps it would be prudent of us to return to the task at hand?"

Harry glanced towards the tall figure of this world's Death God that loomed by his side. It definitely had a certain oriental influence in its manifestation. Instead of the skeletal black robed reaper on some worlds or the complicated society of lesser death gods in others, this Death God was a single figure dressed in robes of white, a mocking imitation of a human face beneath two black horns. Clenched between two rows of sharp teeth was a small dagger-like weapon. The gold and black of its eyes were human enough for Harry to see a certain familiar wariness there.

"My apologies," Harry gave the death god a nod of respect, hiding a smile at the flicker of surprise in those golden eyes. Like this world, this god was still young. It had yet to develop the arrogance displayed by its counterparts on older world. A little respect and this god would happily cooperate with Harry instead of seeing his presence as an insult and play obstructionist. Like some older gods would.

"We'll be working with each other for the foreseeable future, so let us dispense with the pleasantries," Harry told the god with a smile, holding out his right hand "call me Harry."

Harry saw the Death god stare at him and felt a twinge of irritation at its hesitation. As the First Magi of the House of Death, he technically outranked all the death gods except those of major nexus worlds. Predictably, reactions to his presence by Death Gods were either outright hostility or this absurd nervous respect. Rarely could Harry establish an equal relationship.

It was few moments before the god nodded slowly and reached out to grasp Harry's outstretched hand in a firm handshake.

"So what may I call you?" Harry asked politely.

The robed figured stiffened and quickly withdrew its hand. There was moment of silence before it answered, the reluctance evidence in its voice. "Our Lady Azrael has not yet seen fit to grant me a name."

_Oops. _Harry supposed he should have remembered that. Death gods weren't really named until they've seen at least couple million years of service. Of course this one wouldn't have been named yet. Thinking quickly, Harry tried find a way to recover. "What do your worshippers call you?"

"I am not worshipped."

Harry gave the death god a look of surprise. _This is new. _As far he knew, death was always worshipped in one form or another. "Then who do they worship?"

"They largest sect belongs to a man that they refer to as the Sage of Six Paths." Harry smiled inwardly as the resentment in the Death god's rumble. _Ah yes. Mortals who become legends and then gods. Another popular form of worship. _

"So what the mortals call do they call you then?"

"They call me Shinigami, Harry."

"Shinigami." Harry rolled the strange word in in mouth. Obviously a native word that doesn't quite translate into English. It was quite a mouthful. "Then with your permission, I will call you Shin until our lady sees fit you grant you a name."

"That is acceptable."

The introductions over, Harry pulled out the elder wand. A simple wave conjured a large conference table while another flick created a pair of chairs just alongside it. Harry sat down in one and gestured Shin to the other with his hand. When the death god shook its head, Harry just shrugged and conjured a stack of paper and an enchanted dictation pen with an ease borne of practice.

"So, the message you send stated that you have an immortal on this world?" Harry asked, resisting the urge to sigh. _Another idiot with dreams of immortality._ Apparently, Riddle wasn't the only person afraid of death enough to try something monumentally stupid. No, that condition seemed prevalent across the board. It's a small enough irritant, but unfortunately, one of the duties of being Magi is putting these lunatics down.

"Yes." The masked figure nodded with a growl. "His name is Madara Uchiha. My meeting with him is long overdue. However, he has somehow concealed himself and I can no longer find him."

Harry frowned. _This could be a problem. _Normally these jobs hunting down immortals was simple. The Death God pointed them out their location, Harry went there and killed them, problem solved. That wasn't to say they didn't try to conceal themselves from death's sight. In fact, over the years Harry had seen some very creative methods, though Harry had yet to see one remotely successful attempt. As the old saying went, you can hide but you can't hide from death.

"You mean you can't sense him at all?" Harry asked with some concern as the sound of the dictation pen scratched away in the background.

"No."

_Bloody hell._ Harry ran his hand through his hair. _If I'm going to have to track this_, he looked at the name recorded on the paper, _Madara Uchiha down by myself, this could get tricky. _

"Do you have any other information on him?"

"Precious little. I am afraid that you have arrived a few years later than I anticipated, Harry. His concealment is only a recent development." Harry winced at the reproach in Shin's leaden tones. It was subtle, but definitely there.

"My apologies for not responding earlier to your request earlier. The House of Darkness decided to end their ceasefire with our House by assaulting several of our worlds simultaneously. We were forced to respond."

"I assume it went well?"

Harry grimaced. "It did not. We lost three worlds and were forced to retake them. What we did not expect was both the King and Champion of Darkness on the second world. I barely made it out in one piece and get the message out. It took me, the two second circle Magi and a eight knights to push the two of them off that world. We held them off long enough for our King to reinforce us."

Harry shivered at the memory of that battle. He had been watching from the burning ruins of what had once been city that rivalled London. He remembered the earth trembling and the sky raining fire as the King of Death and the King of Darkness tore into each other with a fury that shook that entire world. Over the years, Harry had seen men and beings of such power that made Voldemort seem like a child with a stick, yet watching two kings of the Great Houses go at each other was the single most terrifying thing Harry had ever witnessed. "I can tell you, there's a reason our Lady choose Ducos as the King of our house. The man makes me feel like an insect."

Harry shook himself from his memories before glancing back at Shin. "Do you have a picture of this Madara then?"

The death god nodded and held his hand out. On his palm stood a semitransparent figure with long hair. Harry studied the small model closely as the pen began to trace a portrait of the figure.

"Aside from the fact that you can't find him, is there anything else that could make my life difficult?" Harry asked the absentmindedly as he studied the figure, already trying to figure out how he was going to track the man down. _Hm. I probably should start with any family he still has and take a look into his life. Would-be immortals are oddly obsessive about legacies. _It took a few moments before Harry realised that the Death God hadn't replied.

"Well? Anything else?"

The silence was deafening.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Is there anything else I should know?" He asked again, this time with a great deal more force. He did not like secrets. Harry had learnt from experience with Dumbledore that it was the secrets that people wished to keep from you that had the highest chance of getting you killed.

The face of the death god spasmed before replying hesitantly. "There is another House Sworn on this world."

"What Title? What House?" Harry demanded, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"The House of Destruction."

"Who?" Harry demanded again,

"The Beasts."

Harry winced. While he had never fought the Beast of Destruction, by all accounts it was a vicious thing that took delight in spreading the namesake of its house. It couldn't be talked to or reasoned with. It wasn't to say it didn't have reason, just that it had a preference for attacking and destroying first and never asking questions. Worst part was the rank of Beast in Destruction was the equivalent of a Champion in Death. Running into it on a protected world was the worst possible scenario: let it attack first and risk death, or attacking first and risk being spotted and killed by everybody else.

_Bloody hell. _

"There is a measure of good news. The Beast is fractured. The mortals of this world has sundered its spirit and sealed it within mortal containers."

Harry ran his hand through his hair and glanced out at the sea. At least that was good news, of a sort. While still powerful, a sundered Beast would be in no way equal to the original. Push came to shove, he might be able to get away. Maybe.

"So. A would be immortal that you can't find and the House of Destruction. A walk in the park." Harry muttered sarcastically himself. "What could be easier?" What was supposed to be a simple job has just turned into a bona fide nightmare. Still, he had no choice but to soldiering on. After all, that was what Harry Bloody Potter was good at.

Harry turned back to the death god and sighed, before conjuring more paper.

"You better tell me more about this world and where I should start looking."


	2. Chapter 01: Introductions

_Firstly: this is a vastly different version of the first chapter. I've taken the criticism of the whole "the three hundred year old harry is a weak idiot" criticisms to heart. this is re worked version of the first chapter. frankly, I'm a little undecided if this version is preferable or not._

_Secondly: I still have the original version, which can be resurrected, but i supposed that depend on which version is preferable. i think i'll sleep on it._

**Chapter One: Capture and Interrogation**

According to the information that Shin had told him, Konoha was the single powerful Shinobi,_ hm. Still can't get used to that word,_ village in the elemental countries, coming out on top as it did after the third great Shinobi war. Despite the current peace, Konoha had not forgotten past lessons and had adopted the approach of "write laws for peace but arm for war." As a consequence, it had the most numerous and well trained Shinobi's of all the hidden villages.

However, Harry was not impressed.

For one, despite all its touted reputation as the premier Shinobi village in the land, Konoha was almost absurdly easy to get into. An effortless _notice me not charm_ and Harry had simply just walked through the main gates, past the guards who could not see him and through the crowds that unknowingly parted for his passage. _To be fair, it wasn't their fault that they didn't know magic. _

Once inside the village, Harry looked around him the mild surprise. While the word Shin had used was village, Konoha was anything but a village. Almost as large of a small city, it was a curious mix of early 20th century technology coexisting comfortably with what could not have dated early renaissance, if even that. Electricity poles stood alongside stone paved roads as people in sandals wooden carts rolled along them. Televisions sat on the counters of shops that were thatched with yellow straw. In the distance, Harry could make out a radio antennae.

Harry spent maybe an hour just wandering the streets, taking in the sights and sounds. It was one of the reasons that Harry enjoyed his job, if you can call it that, so much. It was always a distinct pleasure to see the different worlds and culture and compare notes on each to see all the missed forks in the road. The more Harry explored the city, the more aware he became of the distinct, almost Japanese influence upon this world. It was when the sun had reached its zenith that Harry finally turned his attention back to the task at hand.

_Now, where is the Uchiha compound?_

That gave Harry pause. It was a few seconds before harry realised that Shin had never actually told him where the Uchiha compound was. _Of all the stupid –._ The Death god had been a fount of information on the geopolitical situation of the elemental countries and a surprising amount of gossip. While Harry had to admit it was understandable, most Death Gods develop some kind of interest to while away the time, who was having affair with who was not exactly useful. Concerning actually relevant information such as the location of the Uchiha clan, Shin could produce nothing aside from a close to useless _"it's somewhere in Konoha."_

And that mean Harry had to ask someone.

Dammit.

* * *

The bar looked like every single other bar that Harry that ever been in over the centuries. Obviously not exactly, but the most important points were all there.

Counter. Stools. Bottles and bottles of liquor shelved behind the bar. Television in the corner. Rowdy drunk.

Check, check, check, check and check. The bar was actually pretty empty. _No surprise considering that it's the middle of the day._ To the right side of the bar was a failing miserably at singing what Harry could only assume was a song of some sort. It was either that or the man was succeeding at yodelling. A few seats the left of him was a black haired ninja silently brooding over his drink.

Still, Harry had a soft spot for pubs. _Lady knows I spent more than my fair share of time in them trying to get drunk._ Certainly enough that by the end of his tenure as the head of the Aurors, the hogs head had become something of a second home. There was a certain atmosphere that a proper pub had that Harry had always found to be comforting.

Harry found help himself to an empty seat at the counter and tapped his finger on it to remove the _notice me not charm_ before signalling for the barkeep.

"Hello there. Haven't seen you around here before."

_Right._ _Forgot I don't actually look like anyone from around here. _"I'm from out of town," Harry told the man.

"You must be," the barkeep replied with a laugh. "I've never seen anyone who looks like you. And in this line of work, trust me, I meet a lot of people."

Harry shrugged. There wasn't much he could say to that. "I just want a glass of what that guy is having," he answered, pointing towards the man who was trying to yodel, "Whatever he's having must be good if he drink that much of it."

"You sure about that? That guy has weird tastes."

Harry wondered for a second about the warning tone in the barkeeps voice before mentally shrugging. He's been to a lot of places and tried a lot of things. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than that year he spent on a world called Atlean. ""I'm game."

"Your funeral,' the barkeep told Harry with a sigh as he poured the drink, "just don't say I didn't warn you."

Harry stared at the almost purple liquid for moment before he handed over the money and took a sip. _Yeargh! What kind of grown man drinks something this sweet? What is wrong with that guy?_

The barkeeper must have seen Harry's wince, because he chuckled and set a small glass of water down in front of Harry. "I think you might need this. That stuff is for all intents and purposes sugar and alcohol in equal parts. That guy there is the only person I know who can stand to drink this stuff. I pretty much just make it for him."

"It's because you're a shit barkeep," the man suddenly yelled out, "the drinks you make taste like crap."

"Like you can taste the difference. There's enough sugar in that thing to give a dead horse a sugar rush. You're half a woman for drinking that crap." the barkeep yelled back at the man, who gave the barkeep a rude gesture and retreated to his singing. A look of satisfaction on his face at winning the exchange, the barkeeper turned back to Harry apologetically. "Sorry about that, just ignore him. He's a regular, gets like that every time he's had a few drinks."

"No problems," Harry smiled in response to the friendly familiarity of the hurled insults, _Lady I miss that,_ and held out a hand. "The name is Harry."

"My name is Takuma." Takuma shook Harry's hand. "So Harry," The man stumbled over the obviously foreign name. "What brings you to our little village of Konoha?"

"I'm actually lost," Harry admitted. "I'm to take up an old friend on his standing invitation to visit, but I can't remember his address. His clan is the Uchiha clan. I was wondering if you could help me."

Harry did not expect the reaction that came next from Takuma. The man's smile vanished and was replaced by a sombre expression. "You haven't heard?"

Harry frowned. "Heard what?"

The barkeep sighed and poured Harry a glass of something green. "Have that, on the house." The look he gave Harry was filled with pity. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but it's safe to say that your friend is probably dead."

"What do you mean?"

"The Uchiha are all dead. Something happened in that compound of theirs last week that killed every single one except for the clan head's son Sasuke."

"What do you mean something?" Harry demanded. _And why didn't I know about this? Shin and I are going to have words when I get the opportunity. _

"Just what I mean." Takuma told him with a shrug. "The whole compound is locked down tight and the Shinobi are being as tight lipped about the whole thing as," he glanced warily at the ninja sitting off to one side, "well, you know what they're like."

Harry didn't know, but had a pretty good idea. Information lockdown was the first step of any good cover up. Someone in power had slipped up and was now taking measures to ensure damage control. That meant the place was going to be locked down _tight._

"Can you give me directions to their compound? I would like to go and see what happened. Pay my respects." Harry asked Takuma with well-practiced sadness.

"Sure." Takuma wrote down the address and handed it to Harry before giving him a warning. "Be careful though. ANBU have the placed locked down tight. You don't want to get on their bad side. Just stay outside and you should be fine."

"Thanks." Harry looked at the address before folding up the napkin and putting it inside his pocket. "Thanks for the drink too," Harry told Takuma as he left his money on the counter, with enough in tips to pay for the second drink and then some before striding out the bar, squinting a little under the bright sunlight.

_Now let's see what the hell happened to the Uchihas._

* * *

Standing outside the front gate to the Uchiha compound, Harry had to be a little impressed. The main door was a grand thing, a large timber circle easily twice Harry's height with a smaller normal sized doorway on the left half two massive semicircles. The entire thing was made entirely from a dark solid wood that produced a dull sound when Harry experimentally rapped his knuckles upon it. One either side, the walls of the compound stretched out for quite some distance before angling away, encircling a substantial portion of land.

Harry gave a low Whistle. Of course he's seen better and larger. After all, harry had been travelling for some time. However, one does have to take consideration the average of each world. Considering the standards of this world that Harry had been able to see, it was impressive.

_Well, compound was certainly the right word. This family must have been loaded._

The door was locked but a wave of his wand took care of that. Harry paid no attention to the two animal masked ninja that must have been the dreaded ANBU perched on the roofs of the buildings behind him. The notice me not Harry had cast on himself when had left the bar should ensure that Harry remained ignored.

The first thing Harry noticed was just how silent the compound was. Outside, there was the sound people going about their lives. Inside, the air was as still as a tomb, though Harry doubted tombs normally smelled faintly of pineapples.

Harry's smile suddenly disappeared as a tide of rage and sorrow slammed into him with enough force to make his stagger backwards until his back bumped against the door. Leaning forward with his hands on his thighs, Harry closed his eyes and while the tide of feelings washed over him. The sheer power of it surprised him. It had been a long time since he had been this uncomfortable.

Harry had walked through battlefields where in the space of one after noon the blood of hundreds of thousands of dead and dying men soaked the ground into a churned, torn up hell of crimson mud. He had been to what were effectively concentration camps, where millions were systemically murdered. There had been rage, yes, terror and sorrow, but none of them had the vast sense of betrayal that hung so heavily in the air. It left him more than a little curious.

_Hm. What happened here?_

Standing upright, Harry looked around the Uchiha compound. It was like a mini village within a village. Leading to the main gate was obviously the main road that was probably the spine of the compound. On either side were the numerous houses that must have housed the individual families of the Uchiha clan. Walking down that central road, Harry could feel the dark lingering presence behind the door of each house.

Whoever murdered them, _it's definitely murder, no doubt about it,_ were, not to put too fine a point on it, professionals. It was quiet, discreet, well planned and judging from what Takuma had told him, very very thorough.

Walking up a house he picked at random, Harry opened the door and was assaulted by the smell of blood. Harry paced what was the living room, examining the twin pools of blood on the floor. _Looks like these two bled out. _Harry reached once again with his senses and felt nothing but rage and sorrow, like of those were murdered, yet the sense of betrayal was so much greater.

Harry sighed. He doubted there could be very much information to be gained here. He needed to speak to the survivor of whatever happened here.

Harry turned to leave and stumbled, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Harry climbed to his feet and looked around in confusion.

_What just happened?_

That was when he noticed it. The feeling of discomfort he had been feeling earlier suddenly became a great stronger. It felt like his veins were in fire. _Someone's trying drug me! _Whatever poison this was must be new one, because it wasn't affect by his body's natural immunity. _The pineapple!_ The alcohol from earlier and the sudden shock of emotions still lingering in the compound had prevented Harry from feeling it he was being drugged. Harry stumbled outside the house and started towards the main gate. He took another slightly unsteady step towards the main gate and suddenly realised just how sluggish his reaction time was.

_That's not good._ Trying to apparrate in such a state was just asking to be splinched.

Harry shook his head and futilely tried to clear his mind. That was when he caught side of one of the animal masked figures crouched upon a rooftop, staring directly at him. _They can see me? How? They don't have any magic. _Harry pointed his wand at the racoon mask and fired off a stupefy just to check. Instantly, the man vanished from the spot.

Harry's eye widened.

_FUCK! _

_I need to get out of here fast._

He didn't get a chance. In a move that was almost too fast for Harry to see, two ninjas, one with a rabbit mask and other with a fox mask, jumped in front of him.

"Hello. Nice to meet you. Now please get out of my way," Harry growled at the two through clenched teeth. _I wish I could apparate right now without losing a goddamn arm!_

"Stranger, you must know that you are poisoned. Come with us quietly and we will give you the antidote.

Harry gave them a sneer that would have been worthy of Snape despite his agony. Then again, he was always good at ignoring his pain, be it physical or otherwise. _I don't need your antidote. I just need time. _"Let me leave."

"If you refuse, we will have to force you to come with us." The rabbit warned.

In spite of the pain, Harry bared his teeth at the two of them in savage grin. He was always a stubborn idiot. "No."

Without giving the two time to react, Harry flicked his wand and his magic responded. Suddenly the two ninjas were bound and gagged with ropes that Harry knew to be stronger than steel. Harry staggered past the two collapsed ninjas, sparing them a mocking, "Gentlemen," as he did so.

Taking another few steps, Harry clenched his teeth as he walked down the road, his limbs felt leaden, making each step a struggle. Each breathe was like fire searing his lungs as his vision began to waver. _What messed up poison did these idiots use?_ It was going to take him days to sleep this off.

Another flash and Harry suddenly found himself surrounded by more ninjas, all of them animal masked.

This time Harry didn't even try to speak, nor did he use his wand. Like the scalpel, that wand was a precision tool. To create a charm, to transfigure something complex, to cast curses that broke bones or caused unimaginable pain. Specific movements of the wand – specific triggers and their effects. Something that Harry did not the capacity for at the moment. Instead, Harry chose to use something far more primal, the brute force of elemental magic.

Not missing a step, Harry called for his magic and fire answered.

Harry kept walking as flames erupted around him, crackling and roaring with delight. The ninjas leap back from the searing heat. Harry ignored them, trusting in his magic as the creatures leap from the fire to follow the ninjas. Wolves and bears charged from the flames with a roar and eagles of fire so hot they burned almost blue circled the sky, screeching as they searched for their prey.

The ninjas did what they did and summoned water to douse the flames. Harry wasn't concerned. As long as his magic powered the fire, they would recreate themselves if even a spark remained. Besides, the goal is not the kill the ninjas but to keep them distracted enough that he could get away.

Unfortunately, his choice of magic may not have the best one under the circumstances.

_I shouldn't have done that. _Harry felt his eyes struggling to stay open. In his current condition, that feat of magic and keeping it active took more out of him than he had anticipated. As he saw another group of ninjas land on the surrounding roofs with weapons at the ready, Harry knew he wasn't going to get away, not matter how much magic he threw out. Whatever poison they had used on him was incredibly effective. Already, he could feel see darkness at the edges of his vision as his body prepared to shut down in order to concentrate its efforts on neutralising the poison.

Harry tried to take another step and suddenly realised he had fallen to his knees. His body refusing to respond, his last thoughts before darkness claimed him was to curse his own stupidity.

_I knew I should have created an emergency portkey the minute I got to this city._

* * *

"This is absurd! Don't you people have any laws? What makes you think you just grab people off the streets here? I demand to see whoever is in charge!"

Hiruzen watched through the observation window as the foreigner tied to the chair curse at them with some truly remarkably imaginative curses. It was the strangest thing. Hiruzen found that he had to concentrate to a remarkable degree to even see the man. Several times he had to mentally slap himself when his concentration wandered and he found his eyes sliding from them man as if something was actively repelling him. He watched in interest as the black haired man struggled with his restraints, the chair he was tied to rocked side to side, tilting further and further until for a single moment, the chair the prisoner tied to it were perfectly balanced on two legs. Then with the slow inevitability of a falling mountain, the chair toppled with a resounding crash.

Following by another loud string of cursing.

The Hokage winced and turned to his chief interrogator with concern. "What technique is this? I know he's sitting there but I'm finding it extremely difficult to even see him."

Ibiki nodded. "We've all have the same problem barring the few with eyes that are resistant to genjutsus. The member of ANBU who saw him enter the Uchiha compound discovered the same problem when he tried to inform the others. He had triggered a poison trap that ANBU had placed over the main entrance of the Uchiha compound. From my reports, he used the wooden stick we found on his to activate some kind of jutsu that tied up two members of ANBU, and a sealess fire jutsu that tried to set the other on fire before collapsing."

"I see he's fine now."

"We gave him the antidote as soon as ANBU brought him in."

"So who is he?"

"We don't know. He didn't make any papers or identification on him. We suspect he entered the city using the same jutsu that's making it so hard to see him. The Chuunin on guard duty wouldn't even realise that he was there. However," Ibiki paused to look at the his notes, "A large amount of notes on him, detailing the political systems of the elemental nations, history and legends, some on the various hidden villages and a large amount on the Uchiha clan."

"So where is he from? What village, what clan?"

"We initially thought he might have been an Uchiha. Maybe one the cousins that escaped the massacre. In fact, if you kind of squint, he does kind of look like an Uchiha, even if his skin is far too pale."

The two Shinobi cocked their heads as one and looked figure currently sideways on the ground. He was still struggling with the restraints. Unfortunately, whoever tied the knots knew what he or she was doing and there was no slack at all. Instead of freeing himself, the man's struggles were somehow spinning his chair around on the ground. While it wasn't a loud as before, they could still hear the string of muttered curses emanating from the man.

"So he's an Uchiha?" The Hokage asked, doing a marvellous job of keeping the doubt from his voice.

"That's the weirdest thing. We're not even sure if he's a Shinobi. Technically he shouldn't even be alive." The interrogator scratched his chin. "We had Kakashi take a look at him and according to Kakashi, this guys has a less chakra than a civilian. He's has no chakra _at all. _He's got chakra points, but none of them are where they should be, or doing what they should be. Kakashi tells me he's seen corpses with more chakra than this guy, yet I've ANBU reporting that this guy was using high level unknown fire jutsus."

"So what are you going do with him?"

"That's why I called you up here Hokage-sama. I've tried to interrogate him, but he's wasn't susceptible. He has refused to speak to anyone but you. Normally we would'nt even consider bothering with a prisoner, this one – " Ibiki stopped and sighed. "I'm not sure what to do."

Hiruzen looked at his chief interrogator and glanced back at the man in the interrogation room trying to draw circles in the ground with his chair. "Maybe I should talk to him."

Ibiki instantly began to protest. "Hokage-sama, he's dangerous unknown! You don't know what he could –"

"Tied up and with no chakra?" Hiruzen asked dryly. "I'm not that old and decrepit am I?"

The other man fell silent, but the expression did not change.

"Fine. Call up a few more guards if you must, but I think I it's time I had a talk with our mysterious stranger. And someone get him off the ground."

* * *

Harry knew they were watching him. He could feel them on the other side of wall when he closed his eyes, two balls of light, one a great deal dimmer than the other, standing next to each other. He hoped one of them was the Hokage, because Harry was getting pretty tired of being tied up. The only reason that Harry was still here was that he thought it would be an opportunity to see the Hokage.

Harry ran his tongue over his cracked lips. Whatever that rat bastard of a ninja had drugged him with had left him walking up with what felt like a bludger bouncing around in his head. He hadn't felt this bad since that time Ron and him and went pub crawling along Diagon alley and wound up three days later in the ministry fountain with no memories of how they got there.

By the time Harry had cleared his head a little and his thoughts a little more coherent, he had looked around and found himself in an interrogation room. Harry had been to scores of worlds and apparently there was something universal about interrogation rooms. The same grey featureless walls, the same Spartan sort of table and the single source of light from what appeared to be a window of some sort in the ceiling. _Huh. That was new. _

It wasn't long before the door had opened and Harry found himself looking at a man who looked like he went three rounds in a ring with a hippogryph and lost.

Harry had demanded to see the Hokage and they refused. Instead, they started to question him and Harry found his headache returning with a vengeance.

_Who are you? Who are you working for? What village are you from? What clan are you from? What are you doing in Konoha?_

Harry James Potter, First Magi of Greater House Death. Lady Azrael, also known as She who waits, the silent one, the final companion, the Death all creation. Small place called surrey just outside of London. The Noble house of potter. Looking for Madara Uchiha with the goal of putting him six feet under, in pieces, hopefully avoiding the sodding Beast of Destruction if he could help it.

Unfortunately, these were not answers that Harry could give. He wasn't really to show his whole hand. No yet, anyway. Not that they would have been believed. So Harry spun for the scarred man a delightful story involving cheese, duck feathers and three buckets of tar. The man's face didn't crack a single smile at the story, which Harry had always found to be hilarious.

Apparently some people don't have a sense of humour.

But then again, these people were interrogators and they were professionals at not having a sense of humour to speak of. So they went away for a while before coming back with a box fill of sharp implements.

Harry demanded to speak to the Hokage again. They refused. And the questions began again. Variations of the same questions, punctuated by threats and blandishment of what looked like hideously deformed daggers with circular hole on one end. They looked really sharp. This time Harry told him the story about the man, the cheese of peace and the duck of doom.

That one didn't go over very well either. Tough crowd.

So the man left with vague threats of that Harry's imagination was apparently supposed to fill in.

It was actually a pretty effective interrogation technique, it just didn't work on Harry, who was only really there because he wanted to be.

Still, Harry was becoming increasingly impatient.

"So your name is Potter is it?"

Harry looked up to see what appeared to be an old man standing over him. At each shoulder behind him stood two men in black clothing and animals masks. Harry narrowed his eyes. _This must be the Hokage._ Dressed in what appeared to be simple clothes he might be, only a blind man could miss the quiet confidence that this man exuded, even if that pointed hat made him look ridiculous. Unlike weak men like Fudge who hid behind their bluster, this was a man confident of his power, with no need to flaunt it. In fact, the old man reminded Harry a great deal of Ducos, the King of his House.

"Yes, but call me Harry." Harry tried to shrug, only to find that the ropes prevent him from doing so. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little tied up." In the back of his mind, Harry could almost hear Ron groaning.

Harry saw the corner of the old man's lip twitch with the faintest hint of a smile before one the guards in animal masks, a weasel, strode forwards and raised a hand to hit him. "You will show respect for the Hokage!"

The old man simply held up a hand and the weasel froze in mid step. _Impressive. This man I may be able to work with. _

Harry gave the Hokage a smile. "How can I help you?"

* * *

Hiruzen carefully studied the black haired man. He looked nothing like any person Hiruzen had ever seen. The man's skin was so pale. And those eyes, like emeralds. However, it wasn't the colour that Hiruzen found so interesting. Despite his seeming youth, those eyes were ancient.

When the ANBU guard raised his hand to strike, those eyes did not flinch. There had been no fear in them, just a cool recognition of incoming pain and acceptance of the pain to come. The look the prisoner had given his guards was one of assessment and dismissal. Hiruzen had seen eyes like that before, but not in young men. Those were the eyes of his father, his grandfathers, ancient warriors who had seen and experienced death and destruction on a scale unimaginable, men who had faced death without flinching in the knowledge that somewhere, they had already died on the battlefield.

In that instant, Hiruzen realised that this man could not be broken. No matter what inventive methods of persuasion Ibiki, or even Anko could devise, the man had seen, and experienced, far worse.

Hiruzen raised his hand to stop the ANBU guard and found those green eyes that had been quietly assessing him flash with knowledge.

"How can I help you?"

"Harri, Hari-san," Hiruzen found his tongue stumbling over the strange name, "You can begin by telling how you got into our village."

"Why do you call me Hari-san?" Genuine curiosity. Hiruzen filed that away. A foreigner indeed not that there had been much doubt given the mans appearance.

"A small measure of respect."

"I presume I call you Hokage-san?"

Hiruzen felt the guards on both sides stiffen at this lack of disrespect. He gestured for the two of them to leave.

"But Hokage-sama!" one began to protest, quickly followed by the other.

"Enough. Go."

Hiruzen turned back to the foreigner, who had silently watching the exchange. The black haired man cocked his head. "Sama?"

"A different measure of respect."

"One that I apparently should be using."

"No need."

"No, I insist."

Hiruzen said nothing. He returned his line of questioning. "Once again, please tell me how you got into the village."

"So I'm assuming you don't believe me when I say I walked through the gates?"

"That much," Hiruzen told the man, "I believe. What I want to know is what this technique of yours is."

"That's right, you can see me, can't you?" the man replied with genuine surprise. "I wonder why that is?"

"If you can tell me how the technique works, I'm sure we can help you there," Hiruzen pointed out dryly.

Hiruzen found the green eyed man studying him carefully, the smile gone from his lips. When he spoke again, there was a seriousness that had not been present before. "What would you say if I said magic?"

Magic? Hiruzen gave a small laugh, a laugh that faded when he saw the younger man's face. He stopped and considered the word. Magic? Perhaps that was what this foreigner called their Jutsus. Certainly to the civilians they seemed like magic, but almost everyone knew it wasn't. That must be it. Yet Ibiki's words returned to him: _He's got no chakra at all._

"I would ask for proof."

"Well, I would love to show you, except I'm a little indisposed at the moment." The man nodded to the ropes.

Hiruzen almost dismissed the request immediately.

But he didn't.

His head screamed for him to lock this man up and throw away the key, yet some part of him disagreed.

Was it the sincerity in this foreigner's voice? Was it his own damned curiosity? Was it the confidence that this man had no chakra and could do no harm? Or was it just insanity?

Hiruzen slowly nodded. However, he might well be mad for even contemplating this choice but he wasn't a fool.

"Ibiki. Bring half the guards in here. Station the rest outside and then untie Hari-san." Hiruzen held up a hand to forestall the storm of protest. "Just do it."

Never taking his eyes off the foreigner, Hiruzen heard the ANBU guards enter the room and saw a few of them walk behind the prisoner, keeping a safe distance away. When they were completely surrounded, Ibiki began to untie to ropes holding the prisoner. As one, the entire room stiffened and the tension in the room skyrocketed.

* * *

When the last of the ropes had fallen Harry stood up with his hands help up, palms out in the almost universal gesture for surrender. Slowly, so not as to alarm anyone, he rolled his head to ease away the tension there before cracking his fingers, enjoying the feeling of blood returning to digits long starved of them.

"In my possessions, there was a small stick. Do you mind if I get? I won't need to leave the room."

The Hokage gave a hesitant nod. Harry smiled. Now that was one hurdle passed.

"Act one: Accio Deathstick."

Almost instantly, the elder wand appeared in Harry's wand. The minute his fingers clasped around elder wand, Harry felt a warmth run through arm. He was complete. He knew he didn't really need the elder wand, but with the stone and the cloak, they were the only reminders he had of his friends, of Hogwarts, of home.

There was some mutterings from the animal masked people. Harry grinned. Now for part two of his trick. Harry drew circles in the air above the opened palm of his left hand with the point of the elder wand for a few moments before declaring. "Act two: Summonitionem papers."

There was flicker of red from the tip of the elder wand before the papers that Harry had one him when he had been captured appeared in a neat stack in his hand. Harry carefully folded them up and put them in his pocket.

"What do you think you're – " the scarred man behind began. Harry held up a hand for him to be silent. "I'm trying to demonstrate here. You don't think I'd be able to escape with all these guards surrounding me, do you?"

He turned his attention back to the Hokage, who was looking less sceptical by the minute.

"For my third act, I will now turn the table into a snake," Harry declared dramatically and smiled with amusement. He had been a stage magician once. An extremely successful one at that. He never lost his flair for the dramatic though.

Striking a pose, Harry waved the wand and transfigured the chair into a cobra.

The room might have been surprised before, now they were shocked into silence.

Suddenly, it was filled with the yells of "KAI!" as every single person in the room placed their hands together and roared the same word. Harry looked around the room in curiosity as he felt something not unlike a warm breeze gently buffet him from all directions. It wasn't wind, nor did it have discipline and hard edges of magic. For moment, the air tasted of something inexplicable and Harry felt the centuries almost fade from his mind, reminding him of better days.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the breeze disappeared and Harry realised what he had just felt.

Harry couldn't resisting laughing in wonder, shaking his head as he did so.

Of Course! It was Chakra! This world was still young. The song of elements till lingered and the Magic of creation, of life itself could still be felt here. And these people had learned to tap into it. Maybe in a million years, the song would fade and the primal magic of elements die, but for now –

Harry laughed again, stopping only when he saw the look the rest of the room was giving him.

"Ibiki?"

"It's not a genjutsu, Hokage-sama." Harry heard the voice of scarred man reply, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Finally, I will demonstrate my final trick." Harry gave a Hokage a low bow before straightening and giving the old man a wicked smirk. "A disappearing act." Never looking away from the Hokage, Harry addressed his next words to Ibiki, "when you think about this conversation later, remember I never lied. I never said I couldn't escape."

With that, Harry apparratted out of the room with a sharp crack.

* * *

Hirzuen blinked as Hari disappeared with a crack.

After a moment, Ibiki reached forward and his hand moved through where Hari had been.

There was silence except for the hissing of the snake in the middle of the room that had once been the chair. Then all of a sudden, every single person in the room began to speak.

"What the hell?"

"Where did he go?"

"Where is he?"

"What that a time space jutsu or something?"

"Can't be, Kakashi said he has no chakra remember?"

"Explain that damn snake then."

"It sertainly wasn't a genjutsu, not with every single person in the room cancelling it."

"It's still there."

"So how did he disappear?"

Hiruzen studied the room careful to find Hari most definitely gone. That meant Hari had either used a time space jutsu, which was impossible as Hari had absolutely zero chakra, or he was indeed a magician. Hiruzen frowned at the thought and did not attempt to deny it. Unlike when he was a younger man, he was old and wise enough to realise how much there was in the world that he did not know.

No, this could very well have been magic. However, the first step was to find the black haired man.

"Enough." Hiruzen spoke and the entire room fell silent. "Go. Find the man. Be careful though. You've all seen what he's capable of and read the reports of your colleague who were sent to capture him. Equate him to an S-class Missing-nin. Incapacitate, but do no kill unless you have to. I repeat, Incapacitate, do not kill. I also need some of you to go and put Sasuke uner guard in case this man goes after him. Now go!"

As the ANBU disappeared, Hiruzen turned to ibiki. "I need you to bring kakashi up to my office. I need to speak with him.

When Ibiki hurried way, Hiruzen started towards his office at a brisk pace. From what this Hari character had on the Uchiha clan, Hiruzen had no doubt the magician would stay in konoha, if only to try and gather more information.

Hiruzen opened the door to his office and froze. He scanned the room carefully with all of his senses. They all told him that the room was empty, yet decade of on the battlefield told him that there was absolutely someone in the room. Hiruzen entered the room and turned to close the door, sliding the kunai from his sleeve his palm as his did so.

"Really, there's no need for that."

Hiruzen spun and flung the sharp blade towards where the voice had sounded like it had originated from. The weapon flew through the air stopped just inches from the outstretched hand of one Hari potter - who had suddenly appeared and sitting on his desk - dropping to the floor with a thud. But Hiruzen was already moving, his hand flying through the correct seals and he drew in a deep breath, exhaling it in a massive fireball that engulfed the room even as Hiruzen shielded himself from the flames.

Over the massive roar of fire, Hiruzen heard the voice of the magician. "Really? Is this necessary? I have absolutely no intention to harm you or yours."

There was the sudden feel of wind and the orange flames disappeared, leaving behind the sight of Harry potter sitting on his desk, both untouched by the explosion. The rest of the room was incinerated, with the walls heavily singed and coloured with soot. Scattered around the room were piles of ash that had once been various scrolls and bits of furniture.

Hiruzen paused. He glanced towards the black haired magician, whose only sign he had been there during flames was what the wind – _must have been wind, but where did it come from? – _did to his hair, leaving it a ruffled mess. "If you wished no harm, then why did you disappear from the interrogation cell before?"

The other man gave him a small smirk. "You've just answered your own question right there. What kind of conversation could be had in an interrogation cell surrounded by your guards?" He shook his head. "No, I think your office would be much more constructive towards a civilised conversation."

Hiruzen watched warily as Hari hopped off the desk and seated himself in front of it before gesturing for Hiruzen to sit behind the desk. When Hiruzen carefully did so, the black haired man waved his stick and the office return to what it had been and the piles of ash that had been furniture vanished. The paperwork too. Hitruze cheered a little at that thought.

Then a different thought occurred to him. "So you need that stick to perform you magic?"

"Aren't you a sharp one?" Hiruzen heard the admiring tones in Hari's voice. The man held up a hand to one forehead in mock despair. "You're discovered my weakness, whatever will I do?"

"What you doing here?"

"Actually, meeting you was my intention this whole time. You know, I'm not actually surprised that you're the dictator of this village. You certainly have the gravitas for the job. And to be honest, that fireball was really something."

"I'm not a dictator," Hiruzen growled. "I was elected."

"But with absolute authority. Which is practically the definition of a dictator." The other man countered.

In spite of himself, Hiruzen found himself becoming a little angry. "You break into my office, you burn it down –"

"Actually, you burned it down. That fireball was your doing. Not mine."

"What do you want?" Hiruzen roared in frustration. "I thought you wanted to talk."

Hair sighed, and the playful demeanour has disappeared as if a mask had fallen away place. In it's place Hiruzen was treated to the mien of something ancient and powerful.

"Yes. Then let's talk."


	3. Chapter 02: Conversations and Deals

_Firstly: this is old chapter two, modified to be in line with the new chapter one. I figured a wee bit of recycling never hurt anyone. if it's too rough, say so and I'll do what i can to clean it up. _

_Secondly: Looking for a beta. Anyone interested?_

**Chapter two: Conversations and Deals**

It is said that a man's office is a reflection himself. Before the fireball had incinerated everything bu the desk and the chairs, Harry had taken the opportunity to study the room. It was a large one, as befitting the absolute ruler of the village, yet there wasn't the self-indulgent opulence and grandiosity of most rulers. Instead, there was a Spartan simplicity. The walls were covered with rows upon rows of shelves, stacked haphazardly with books and scrolls in absolute chaos. Scattered around the room were a few items of whimsy. Atop the desk was a sprawling mass of paperwork, with a few personnel photos jutting from the sea of paper. It was an image of what a busy, grandfatherly man's office should look like. Not unlike Dumbledore's.

Harry smiled chuckled at the thought. In fact, just like Dumbledore's office, it had been a masterpiece of deception.

It certainly looked like chaos but Harry could see hints of the hidden order. Without knowledge of the system, anyone who broke into this office would have nightmare of a time trying to find any information or even trying to hide their trespass. It's easy to put a scroll back where it belonged, but not so easy to notice that the scroll had a bent corner, or that it was pointing towards the door before.

Harry thought it was rather unfortunate that everything else in the room had been incinerated by that fireball. He had rather liked it.

Harry looked the Hokage sitting across the mahogany desk and reminded himself not the estimate the man. From the vast amount of notes that Harry had recorded from Shin, it was apparent that one did not become the absolute ruler of the most powerful military force on this world by collecting stickers. For all his kindly old man act, the Hokage is the most powerful person in the village and known as the God a Shinobi, for good reason, as evident by the fireball he had tossed, or rather breathed, at Harry.

"I would offer you tea," the somewhat regretful tones of the Hokage broke Harry from his reverie, "but given the state of my office, I don't think that's possible."

"It that it?" Harry asked with a smile. A wave of his wand conjured two small plates of biscuits and two small cups filled with steaming tea. "A slightly singed office no good reason to skimp on good manners."

Harry picked up his cup as the Hokage stared at him in stunned silence. _I supposed I would be surprised as well. I wish I could see magic again for the first time._ Admittedly, their situations were a little different. Harry's first encounter with magic had been when he was rescued from his barely human relatives by a friendly and jovial Hagrid. The Hokage, on the other hand, was experiencing it from someone who, while not directly responsible still had a hand in, burning down his office.

Not the same thing at all.

"Is that real tea?"

"Hm? Yes and no. same for the biscuits. You can eat them, but don't expect them to provide any nourishment."

Harry watched the old man take tentative sip of the tea. The Hokage's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "this is surprisingly good." He complimented Harry, taking a biscuit from his plate.

"I spent quite some time perfecting them. It does make being away from home for so long a just a little more bearable." Harry replied without any false modesty. With good reason. He had spent literally decades trying to get the taste exatly the way he wanted it, though he was still working on his butterbeer.

"So you're a magician."

Harry sighed. "I had hoped for a more graceful start to this conversation, fireballs aside." He finished his biscuit and put the cup back on the table. "Yes, I am a magician. That being said, I would much rather you use the word mage. Magician makes me feel like a children's entertainer."

"Of course. My apologies." The Hokage replied in sincere, if guarded tones. "As grateful as I am for the refreshments, may I ask what you wanted to see me for?"

"Well, for one, I have a complaint about your village. I don't appreciate being drugged and then sent to an interrogation room. Trespass should only be a slap on the wrist as a punishment. While I understand that as a general you do not have control over all of your soldiers, I would appreciate you reign in their zeal." Harry paused and then chuckled at the expression on the Hokage's face. "No, I jest. The reason that I'm here is that I'm currently investigating the Uchiha clan."

"The notes you had on the clan." The Hokage noted with some relief.

"Yes, the notes." Harry sighed. "While my, uh, informant was thorough, he neglected to mention that Uchiha clan had all died."

"They only died a week ago. I doubt the news that well known yet."

"Trust me, my informant is well situated to known about these events. In fact," Harry told the Hokage through gritted teeth, "I may have to have a word with him concerning his failure in this matter."

"You still haven't explained what you want with the Uchiha."

"No I haven't have i? Let's just say that I am looking for a man that I believe only the uchihas had knowledge of. That's why I was initially interested in meeting. Unfortunately, it appears that all but two of them have been wiped out. I would like to meet them.

Harry watched the Hokage study him.

"And if I choose to deny your request?"

Harry shrugged. "I'll meet them one way or another. The truth of the matter is, you really can't stop me if I wanted to." Seeing the Hokage's eyes harden, Harry gave the old man a friendly smile. "This is not a threat. No. this is a simple statement of fact. If I want to see the boy, you can't really stop me." His piece said, Harry picked up his tea again. With a tap of his finger on the side of porcelain cup, the tepid waters were heated to steaming once more. Harry took a sip before continuing. "If it makes you feel any better, I guarantee that no harm will come to the boy. I can question him in this room if you want.

"And then?"

"We'll see after I speak to the boy. If all goes well, I'll be gone from here almost immediately. If not, then we need to sit back and examine our options, won't we?"

It was at that moment that there was a knock on the door.

"Don't mind me. I'm sure you must have other important matter to attend to." Harry told the Hokage. "Deal with whatever it is that requires your attention. I won't mind."

"Come in."

The door opened two ninja. One was Ibiki from the interrogation chamber and the other was a white haired man that his shinobi forehead protector thing, _I know there's a proper name for that thing,_ worn diagonally over his face so that it covered on eye.

Both stopped when they saw the scene in the office.

"Ah, hello there. Care for some tea?" Harry asked pleasantly. As the two of the stared in silence, Harry waved his wand again and the empty chair next him proceeded to walked awkwardly to the door, where it melted into a small round table with two cups of tea and a another small plates of biscuits. "I assume you had a message of some sort for the Hokage?"

"I, ah," Harry watched with fascination as the face of the interrogator contorted itself, trying to find some middle ground between shock, rage and fear before finally shutting down into the blank mask that Harry recognised from the interrogation room, "You wanted to see Kakashi, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, come in. Ibiki, I think you can call off the ANBU for now."

"Please, don't bother on my account. I would suggest you station your ANBU all around this office, both for your peace of mind and the peace of mind of your Hokage," Harry told the scarred interrogator with smile. The man left with a scowl, probably at the fact that Harry had just suggested what he had been thinking, causing Harry's grin to widen.

When the door closed again with a quiet click, Harry turned his attention to the white haired Kakashi, who Harry found had removed the forehead protector that had been covering his eyes. There were something that looked like apostrophes that surrounded the pupil of that eye, Harry saw with fascination. They had an almost hypnotic quality to them that seemed to pull at Harry, drawing him into those deep pools of black.

Harry shook his head and cleared his mind. There would be time o study that eyes later. _I mean, what would be the genetic advantage to evolving an eye that looked like that?_ "Seen everything you want to see?" Harry asked the white air ninja with a smirk. "Should I take my shirt off too?"

"Kakashi? You can speak in front of him." Harry heard the questioning tone sof Hokage behind him and was about to turn when Kakashi spoke again, the confusion evident tin his voice. "He's completely dead, Hokage-sama. There is no chakra in his body. He doesn't have the chakra coils, or nodes or anything."

_Oh._ "Is that eye a diagnostic tool of some sort? It can actually see chakra?" Harry asked the ninja in curiosity. When the white haired ninja did not reply, Harry sighed in dejection and turned back to the Hokage with a slightly hurt expression on his face. _Apparently the old man still didn't believe_. "I told you it was magic. I don't use chakra. Let's just say that it's a game for the young and leave it at that, eh?" Harry made a sharp gesture that cut off any further question from either man. "Enough of that. Back to my request. Will you grant it?"

After a moment of heavy silence, the Hokage spoke in a weary voice, "Kakashi, can you bring Sasuke here please. Just go. I'll be fine."

When the white haired ninja had left, Harry found himself studying the Hokage sitting desk his desk in his office. _The animal in his natural environment, as it were. _Above everything else, the Hokage looked, tired. It wasn't readily apparent, but Harry could see it in the slump of the shoulders, the well concealed bags under the eyes and more than all else, Harry could see the dimming light of the man's life every time the mage closed his eyes. He knew the story of the current Hokage's return to power after the death of the last, but seeing it here there was only one question on Harry's mind.

"Why?"

"Why what?" the Hokage asked.

"Why this." Harry made a sweeping gesture that encompassed the room. "Why come back? You were retired. Why come back when you obviously don't want to?"

The Hokage gave Harry a startled look before breaking out into a choked laugh, entirely devoid of humour. It was a laugh that Harry had heard before, from kings and general, popes and mages. It the surprised, gratified laugh of a man who had been asked a question that he had always wanted to be asked, long after he had though anyone ever would. It was a few moment before the Hokage regained control and looked at Harry once more, a crooked smile playing upon his lips.

"Did you know that you're the first person to ask me that?" The old man laughed again, that same humourless laugh ringing around the room. "My friends, students and advisors all assumed that I wanted to resume the role. Even my children though it would be good idea, for someone of my experience to become the Hokage again."

The Hokage looked Harry in the eye. "Do you know what I see when I look at you?"

"No." Harry was somewhat thrown by the sudden change in the direction of the conversation.

"I see a man around the same age as my son Asuma. You don't look like you're any older than your late twenties. Yet when I look in your eyes, I see a man as old as me. A man who has spent a lifetime walking through one battlefield after another. So tell me, oh ancient youth, if you were me, why would you retake the position of Hokage?"

It didn't take Harry long to come up with the answer. It was the same reason he became an auror after he killed Voldemort. He didn't have to join the auror corp – the potter and black inheritances made him rich enough to never have to work again. Harry could have spent the next thirty years drowning himself in luxury without making much of a dent in his fortune. He didn't. He chose to undertake the gruelling training to become an auror, spending the next ten years hunting down dangerous criminal and eventually getting himself killed in the line of duty. He certainly didn't have to spend the next two and a half centuries hunting down immortals. Hermione once called it his saving people thing, but she was wrong. It was something similar, yet a world apart.

"Duty."

The Hokage gave him the first genuine smile since they had met. "Yes. Duty. For men like us, Duty is the only thing that remains. My duty, first and foremost is to the village and the children that would be our future. The position of Hokage is a heavy once. I would spend the next twenty years as Hokage if it mean I could spare them that."

Harry looked at the Hokage with newfound respect. In many ways, the Hokage was similar to Dumbledore. The old headmaster would speak of love with a twinkle in his eye, and solemnly declare that redemption should be available to all. Harry used to believe him until. Ten years seeing the worst that the wizarding world had certainly disabused him of that notion. Over two centuries wading through warzone after battlefield, seeing the atrocities that the rest of humanity could and would perform in the name of power and immortality had stripped Harry of whatever remnants of that particular sentiment.

The Hokage did not speak of love. He spoke of duty, of serving those that you cherish and had a duty to protect. It sounded so similar to Dumbledore's concept of love but ultimately differed in a very fundamental way. Harry agreed wholeheartedly.

"Hokage-sama, I've got Sasuke Uchiha here."

Harry saw the door open and the white haired ninja enter the office, leading the small black haired boy in and closing the door behind them, but not before Harry caught sight of the throng of Ninjas just outside the door. _Ibiki certainly moves fast._

"You can ask your questions," the Hokage told Harry.

"Of course, but I won't ask them directly. I 'll just sift through his memories for what I need."

"You'll do what?" The Hokage demanded in both alarm and outrage.

"Please," Harry told the two ninjas in exasperation. "I've done this thousands of times. It's not going to harm him, and it will certainly be a lot quicker than directly asking him."

Without another glance at the two, Harry knelt on one knee and looked at the black haired boy in the eye with a smile. "Now, what's your name?"

"Sasuke."

"Now sasuke, I've going to take a look at your memories. I just need to look for a bit of information. I have the Hokages permission and I promise it won't hurt. Is that ok?"

The boy turned to look at his Hokage and Harry did the same, giving the old man a warning look. After a tense few seconds, the Hokage gave a terse nod and sasuke turned back to Harry.

Harry spared the two ninjas in the room a look of warning. "If you care for the child at all, do not interrupt me. A mistake here could cost both our minds."

That was true. This wasn't the original legilimens spell that Snape had brutalised his mind with. This was something far more complex, but a great deal more effective. Harry looked the boy in the eye and whispered: "Legilimens."

The boys mind was a chaotic mess. That was the problem with the minds of children. Their sense of selves and identities weren't quite fixed yet and their memories weren't quite as compartmentalised as that of adults. Instead, it was a chaotic slurry of sights and sounds that flowed in strange currents obeying even stranger rules, with Harry standing in the midst of it all. Yet at the same time, he could feel the cold harness of the stone floor of the Hokage's office beneath his right knee. Harry concentrated for a few moments and imposed his will temporarily upon the madness. Shapes began to form and eventually it resolved into rows upon roles of grey metal filing cabinets set upon a black tiled floor. Above them a white nothing that stretched as far as Harry could see.

Harry frowned. This won't do. Not if he was searching for specific information that may or may not be there. Again Harry reached out to reshape the mindscape but the minute he did so, the cabinets began to shudder as if in an earthquake.

_Hm. I may have been a little heavy handed there. _

Once again, Harry reached out, this time a little more delicately. The floor began to ripple and a computer complete with scanner rose up from the ground.

_A little better. Let's seen if we can make this a bit more high tech._

For the third time, Harry tried to shape the mindscape, and like the first, the ground rumbled.

_I see. So that's the limit eh?_ Harry looked at the antiquated electronic equipment in scepticism. _I guess I can work with this. _Harry snapped his fingers and the picture of Madara Uchinha that his dictation pen had copied from Shin fluttered down to him from the blank void above him. He scanned the picture into the computer, typed in the name Uchiha Madara and used the search function. As the computer began to search, Harry looked at it in amusement. _I can actually hear it whirring._

After what felt like eternity to Harry, who had been tapping his finger impatiently on the table, the screen displayed the location of a number of files, most of which were audio, but with the complimenting video attached if he wished to see. Harry stared at the screed for a few minutes looking for a function to bring the files up before sighing in defeat. If this was an adult mind, the necessary conveniences could be easily created, but a child's mind was a great deal less stable. _I guess I have to go get the files myself._

He spent some time tracking down every single one and brought them all back to the computer desk before sitting down to examine all of them.

The first files was a mistake. It was someone who had a passing resemblance of the man Harry was looking for.

The second was a conversation about the founding of the village. As were the third, fourth and fifth.

The sixth up to the hundred and eighty fifth were all lessons of some kind, either on Konoha or of the clan itself.

It was on the hundred and eighty sixth file that Harry stuck gold.

It was the night that Itachi murdered his entire family. _So that's what happened to the Uchihas._ However, Itachi did something to his younger brother that night. There were two sets of memories – what Sasuke remembered, and what Sasuke's eyes and ears actually saw and heard.

The first set were, to put it bluntly, excruciating. Harry had winced on seeing them. There would be scarring from that, no matter what happens.

The second was what was interesting.

_Itachi looked down at his younger brother in sadness. There was the sound of the door opening and itachi turned his head towards someone that could not be seen._

_"I thought I told you to wait outside Madara," Itachi had growled. _

_"I guess you couldn't kill your younger brother after all." The other man replied with mild satisfaction, as if confirming a theory._

_"Enough," Itachi had growled, anger visible on his face, "I have done what needed to be done. Let us depart."_

_The other man must have signalled his agreement in some way because Itachi quickly left Sasuke's line of sight. There was the soft sound of footsteps and the door closing._

* * *

Unfortunately that was the only file of any relevance out of the literally hundreds suggested. Still, it was enough to establish a connection between the murderous scion of the Uchiha clan and Harry's target. With a nod of satisfaction, Harry withdrew from the boys mind. He blinked quickly, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation of the dry rawness of his eyes.

"You okay Sasuke?" Harry asked the youngest and Uchiha and the boy nodded. Harry ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. "You did great."

"They're awake!" the voice was loud and shrill, forcing Harry to wince.

When he looked up to see who had that excruciating voice, Harry found the room had been filled with ninjas of every sort. Not the animal masked ninjas from before, but a wide assortment in a variety of clothing, both male and female and every single one of them was looking at him. Some had their weapons out, other were examining medical equipment with wires that had been attached to both Harry and Sasuke. Harry looked around and found the Hokage still behind his desk, looking at boy with worry. "I guess I was away there for some time huh?" he asked the Hokage.

"Not long. Just a few hours," the man replied dryly. "Is he ok?"

"He's fine," Harry reassured the old man. "He's going to have a fair bit of psychological scarring from what his brother did to him, but they'll be gone in a few years if you treat them correctly."

The room froze. "How do you know that? That's an S class secret." Someone in the room demanded.

"Are you kidding me?" Harry asked incredulously. "I was just sifting through the boys memories. You think something as traumatic as that wouldn't come up?" He snorted. "Morons."

The entire room bristled at the insult, except the Hokage, who looked at Harry with serious eyes and said, "I assume we need to talk?"

"That we do," Harry replied. "That we do"

Immediately, the Hokage told Kakashi to take Sasuke to the hospital for a full check-up, kicked everybody else our and closed the door behind them.

"I have a problem," Harry told the Hokage when the man had resumed his down. The Hokage stiffened. Harry ignored him and continued. "I'm looking for a man who should be dead. His name is Madara, ring any bells?"

The Hokage gasped. "Uchiha Madara? But he's dead!"

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be looking for him," Harry replied in irritation, "and before you ask, I have impeccable sources. My problem is twofold. The first is that I can't find Madara. Fortunately, it appears that your Itachi is heavily acquainted with him. Which brings me to my second problem. I don't know where your Itachi is either. However, I think that is a problem that you can help me with."

The Hokage closed his eyes as if in pain. "We don't know here itachi is either."

"You must be kidding me! He wipes out one of your four noble clans and you don't know where he is? At least tell me that you're looking for him."

"We do. We have agents in all of the elemental countries looking for Itachi."

"Excellent." Harry rubbed his hands together. "Then you'll inform me when you find him." He stood up to leave. "I'll be around."

"Wait." Harry turned to the angry face of the Hokage. "What makes you think that you'll be staying in Konoha? Or that I'll tell you anything? Especially after what you did?"

Harry looked at the old man with one raised eyebrow, "did we cover the part where you can't stop me?"

"You were brought down last time. I hardly think this time we'll let you live." The Hokage growled.

"That was luck," Harry dismissed the Hokage's threats with a casual wave of his hand. "It won't happen again."

"Not if we send all the Shinobi in the village against you."

"What will that get you apart from a lot of dead ninjas?" Harry replied mildly.

"Then who will give you the information you want?" The Hokage countered.

Harry looked at the old man with appraising eyes. He hated to admit it, but the old bastard had him by the short hairs. If he wanted that information, they Harry was going to have to play ball. Harry wasn't sure if he should be angry or impressed. Maybe both. He walked back to his chair and slumped into it. "Fine. You have a point. What do you want in return?"

"I would you like to lend your skills to the village."

Harry stared incredulously at the Hokage before bursting out into laughter. "You impress me, you really do," Harry said, pretending wipe tears away from his eyes. "Not many people have ever asked me that." The smile dropped from his face and for a single moment, Harry was deadly serious. "I owe my loyalty to none but one, is that understood?"

The Hokage glared back and two of them stared at each other in a contest of wills. The Hokage was the first to break away.

Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I understand the situation that we're in. It's a simple one. Can we not make it more complicated than it seems? I want something that you have, and you want something in exchange. Just tell me what it is."

"I would you like to lend your skills to the village." The Hokage repeated. When Harry glared at him, he quickly amended it with, "just help the village."

"What are your terms?"

"I want you to swear an oath to the village."

"No." Harry's reply was short, sharp and simple, delivered with the force of his objection to the idea.

"We must have a way to ensure your loyalty to the village."

"Did you not hear what I said earlier old man?" Harry snarled back. "I have one Loyalty, and I will not under any circumstances compromise that." Harry paused for a second. "What do you want me to do for you village anyway?"

The Hokage sighed. "Would you object to being sent on missions? They would give you an opportunity to see more of the elemental countries and possibly even find Madara or Itachi on your own. It would also make you a fair bit of money."

"Sure." Harry replied after considering what the Hokage said after for a few moments. _His points have merit._ "Put me down as an independent contractor. I'll take jobs on case by case basis."

"You wouldn't mind if we have you spar with one of our Jounins would you? Just to have an idea of what you can do."

"You've seen what I can do. I could probably destroy any of your ninja."

"Not what I meant. Just a physical spar. To have a general idea of you capabilities."

"Sure." Harry assented with a shrug. He needed to loosen up a bit, seat a little and purge whatever was left of that poison from his body. "It's not something I use regularly so I'm probably a little rusty."

"That won't be a problem. I'm sure we can find someone down at the training grounds." The Hokage rose from his seat and opened the door to his office before turning back to Harry. "If you will come with me Hari-san."

Harry rose to follow him.

Ignoring the dozens of animal masked Ninjas, the two of them walked through empty coriddors and past rooms that seemed to be filled with either weapons or scrolls. Always, they were discretely followed by the animal masked ANBU. It wasn't long before the Hokage led Harry to what he assumed were the training rounds. Actually, it looked like an arena of some sort, with a walk surrounding the sandy ground and raised seats all around. In fact, there were a few men and women, Ninjas all of them, sitting in those seats talking animatedly. Harry scowled. _Training ground my backside. I think this is an exhibition match._ Harry smiled. It was not an altogether pleasant expression. _The old man probably think I'm only good for magic. Heh. Someone's going to be in for a surprise._

"Gai!" Harry saw the Hokage call to the stands and a man summersault from the seats onto the sand of the arena. He was wearing –

Harry stared. He wasn't what his reaction should be. There was ridiculous, and then there was just plain absurd. _Who in their right minds would wear bright green leotard? A woman wouldn't wear that. Let alone a man. And that haircut. Those eyebrows. Ugh._ _I couldn't look that ridiculous if I tried._

"Is he completely, you know, there?" Harry asked the Hokage out of the corner of his mouth.

"Gai does have a, ah, unique view of fashion," the Hokage admitted, "but he is also one of our elite shinobi. They call him the green beast of Konohah. For obvious reasons."

Harry wasn't quite sure how to reply to that, so he said nothing. Instead, he studied the man as he approached. Idiotic fashion choices aside, Harry could see what the Hokage meant when he said elite. The man didn't walk towards them so much as he _flowed_, each move with a graceful efficiency that took year, if not decades of training to obtain.

"Gai," the Hokage told man in green, "I want to you spar with Hari-san here. He's just joined Konoha and I would like to see where he's at. The reason I called you is that like you, he can only use taijutsu."

"Yosh! He is most youthful. I will do my best against him."

Harry looked at Gai with one raised eyebrow in amusement. Harry was over three centuries old. The only people in the house that were older than him were Ducos, Rosella and Kjietl. Harry hadn't been called youthful for at least two centuries.

"It will be pleasure to spar against you Hari-san!" Gai told Harry enthusiastically.

"Likewise," Harry replied as he rolled his shoulder and stretched a little to loosen the tightness in his muscles. Whatever that poison was, it did him no favours.

"Let's go." Before Harry even finished, Gai was already charging towards him. In less than the blink of an eye, Harry found Gai in front of him and was forced to dive to the left to avoid a vicious kick to the stomach.

_He's fast_. Harry realised, as he twisted to avoid another attack. _Strong too. _Harry realised as he jabbed Gai's right arm just in the right arm to divert an incoming backhander, throwing the Ninja off balance. It had been like punching a steel bar. _Ok. He's stronger than you, so you're not going to be able to do much damage, but you're faster. So play this out and tire him out._

* * *

Gai was impressed. Over the years, he had fought many types of shinobi. Not counting his mission encounters, he had sparred against his eternal rival Kakashi, the other jounin and on one occasion the Hokage himself. Never had ever fought someone like this Hari.

He was fast, but not just fast. Against any other opponent, there would be blocks and counter strikes. Fighting Hari was fighting water. He simply wasn't there. Gai spun on one leg and delivered a swift kick towards his opponent, who simply flowed out of the way. He feinted with his left and threw sharp jab. Hari simply tapped his arm and the jab changed direction. Not a great deal, but enough to miss the target, forcing Gai to change his stance to maintain his balance. Gain grinned in a combination of exhilaration and frustration. He wanted to keep fighting, to keep testing himself against this new technique. Yet his body was betraying him. He could feel himself tiring, his chakra tiring until he simply couldn't fight anymore.

Finally, Gai simply stopped. "Enough." As he bent over with his hands on his knees, panting for air as sweat dripped from his brow, Gai couldn't keep the grin off his face.

* * *

Like the rest of the shinobi sitting on the stands, Hiruzen watched the spar with amazement. When Hari said he knew unarmed combat, Hiruzen wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. He watched in amazement as the magician, mage, Hiruzen corrected himself, managed to dodge, avoid and misdirect every single strike that Gai sent. Hiruzen watched as Hari flowed around Gai and marvelled at the skill. Every single strike was placed with surgical precision to redirect a blow with the minimal energy, every dodge a demonstration of efficiency.

It was nowhere near as graceful or impressive as some schools and methods. Instead, there was a brutal utilitarianism with hints of grace in the half performed manoeuvres aborted halfway and truncated moves, as if someone had taken a school of Taijutsu and stripped it of anything but the necessities.

Finally, Gai, even with his prodigious chakra reserves, couldn't keep fighting any longer and gave up.

Hiruzen walked over to Hari and saw that the young mage was only breathing hard.

"That was impressive." Hiruzen complimented the young man. "Where did you learn that?"

"Picked it up from my homeland," Hari replied. "It was originally called tai chi, but I've had to make some adjustments to it over the years."

"Why didn't you fight back?" Hiruzen looked at Gai, who had finally caught his breath and was standing there with a somewhat manic grin on his face.

"I'm not strong enough," Hari shrugged. "I'm a mage. Normally I jus detroy whoever comes up against me with magic. I don't need to be strong. I only learnt this to defend myself and buy time if an enemy came close enough. That's why I learnt Tai chi. it was originally designed to be used against stronger foes. I've made some adaptations over the years, but the same basic principles is still there."

_This would be tremendously useful for our special and support nins_. Hiruzen realised with a flash of insight. _They could simply focus on protecting themselves and saving their Chakra._

Hiruzen glanced at Hari again. "I would like you to demonstrate this method to some of our junior and support nins."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Hari growled. "I'm going to get something to eat, and something to drink. Then, because our deal has been concluded, we're going to talk about how you screwed me and I'm going to tell you I screwed you. Is that acceptable?"

Hiruzen could feel the beginning of a grin creeping over his face, one he wiped away when Hari gave him a sour look. Still, inside, he was laughing. _Convincing Harry village may be the best decision I've ever made. From what he tells me he can do and from what I've just seen, Hari will be an invaluable resource if we can make use of him._

* * *

As Harry walked away from the so called training ground, he couldn't help but feel that despite him having all the cards, he had just been suckered.

He sighed.

_I'll burn those bridge when I get to them. Right now, I just want some food, a hot shower and somewhere to sleep off the headache._

* * *

_Endnote: I'm thinking of getting harry to teach magic to the few who can to try and set this up as a recruitment world for his house. He's going to be waltzing through any missions anyway, and harry was always good with the DA. plus, it would give him an opportunity to establish some more relationship with the naruto characters. _

_and please remember that teaching does not mean the students immediately learn everything. it takes years to gain any basic competency. what i'm suggesting is that harry lays down some basic groundwork. besides, harry is one of the few most powerful individual in this world.  
_

_good idea? bad idea? suggestions?_


End file.
